Pine Warbler

Dendroica pinus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family PARULIDAE

Menu

1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Sound
4. Range
5. Habitat
6. Food
7. Behavior
8. Reproduction
9. Conservation Status
10. Other Names

A warbler with a truly appropriate name, the Pine Warbler is a characteristic bird of eastern pine woodlands. It is rarely found in deciduous vegetation except during migration.

Cool Facts

• The Pine Warbler is the only warbler that eats large quantities of seeds, primarily those of pines. This seed-eating ability often brings them to bird feeders where they eat seeds in addition to suet.

• The Pine Warbler is one of the first warblers to return to the North in spring, arriving as early as February in areas just north of the wintering range. It is one of the earliest breeding warblers too, starting in late April or May in the northern part of the range.

• Migrant Pine Warblers from the northern part of the range join resident Pine Warblers in the southern United States in winter. Sometimes they form large flocks of 50 to 100 or more.

Description

• Size: 13-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 19-23 cm (7-9 in)
• Weight: 9-15 g (0.32-0.53 ounces)

• Small songbird; large warbler.
• Yellow throat and chest with dirty dark streaks on sides.
• Two white wingbars.

• White belly and under tail.
• Olive green upperparts.
• Plain back with no streaking. Inconspicuous eye crescents.
• Yellow lores; may give impression of yellow spectacles.
• Small dark bill; large for a warbler.
• Dark legs.
• White spots on outer three tail feathers.
• Occasionally pumps tail.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but female duller and with more brownish back.

Immature

Immatures duller. Immature female very dull with little or no olive; grayish brown back, dull whitish underparts with little or no yellow.

Sound

Song a musical trill.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds locally from southeastern Manitoba and Minnesota eastward to Maine and New Brunswick, southward to Gulf Coast, from eastern Texas to Florida. Rare and very local in middle of range. Also Bahamas and Hispaniola.

Winter Range

Winters in southeastern United States, from Oklahoma to Virginia and southward.

Habitat

• Breeds in a variety of pine forests and plantations.
• Winters in similar habitats.

Food

Primarily arthropods; some fruit and seeds.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages in middle and upper canopy, slowly searching along branches and bark. Hops along branches. May hang upside down at branch tips. Occasionally comes to bird feeders. Opens seeds by placing them in bark crevices and hammering with bill. Joins mixed species flocks in winter.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest a deep cup of grass, pine needles, twigs, and plant fibers bound together with spider web or caterpillar silk, lined with fine plant parts, hair and feathers. Placed high in pine tree.

Egg Description

Whitish spotted with brown, often with a wreath or band of concentrated spots near large end.

Clutch Size

Usually 4 eggs. Range: 3-5.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless and downy.

Conservation Status

Populations increasing in most of range.

Other Names

Paruline des pins (French)
Chipe pinero (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Rodewald, P. G., J. H. Withgott, and K. G. Smith. 1999. Pine Warbler (Dendroica pinus). In The Birds of North America, No. 438 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.